Great Lakes Water Compact: a serious threat to our private water rights Representative Matt Dolan's version of this Compact (H.B. 416) poses a clear threat to private water rights. If
this version is passed, the government will own all water in the Great Lakes Basin, including water on private
property. This means that the government can tax private well water and even prevent people (e.g. farmers)
from using the water on their own property.
Senator Tim Grendell's proposed version of this Compact (S.B. 291) does protect private water rights in
Ohio. However, BOTH versions of the Compact give total control of all Lake Erie water to a council of 8 states'
governors, taking away Ohio's rights to make decisions about Lake Erie water. This could have a negative
impact on economic development in Ohio, and may harm smaller Lake Erie ecosystems.
Neither version of the Compact is needed to prevent diversions from the Great Lakes; the Water
Resources Development Act of 1986 already prevents such diversion, and this federal law has never
been successfully challenged.
Therefore, the GCC opposes BOTH forms of the Great Lakes Water Compact, and suggests that
everyone contact their state legislators on a regular basis to ask them to vote against BOTH versions.
Real ID: a clear violation of our Constitutional rights The Real ID Act of 2005 is a federal law that requires each state to implement a national identity card, in the
form of state-issued ID (e.g. drivers' licences). While the intention of this new system is to combat terrorism, in
reality, security experts agree that this new national database would do nothing to prevent terrorism, while
it would pose a serious risk to American citizens' privacy. Such a comprehensive, nationwide database would
allow identity thieves one-stop-shopping for our private information, and would invite an epidemic of identity
theft.
Even worse, the Real ID represents progress toward a surveillance society in which the government
is aware of the activities and private information of every U.S. resident. Do you think that every employee of
the U.S. government is trustworthy enough to have access to all of your financial, medical and other private
records?
The GCC is opposed to all forms of national databases and biometric ID plans. We recommend that
every person concerned about their rights to privacy contact their state and federal legislators and make it clear
that they oppose the Real ID and any other national ID scheme. Township Sovereignty: under attack by big-government proponents There have been recent efforts to remove the powers of local townships, and to concentrate all governmental
power in the state capital. The GCC opposes such efforts in principle, as the government that is most
accountable for its actions is the one closest to home.
